Youth Democratic Movement "Spring" reports a new criminal case against former members of the association and activists who are not associated with it. According to Viasna, 5 people were charged under at least 6 articles of the Criminal Code, including “fakes” about the army, the organization of an “extremist” community, and the “rehabilitation” of Nazism.
“Yesterday, June 6, in several cities, security forces searched the homes of former Viasna members and activists who have nothing to do with the movement. In St. Petersburg, searches were carried out at the homes of former members of Vesna, Yevgeny Zateev and Valentin Khoroshenin , who are under a ban on certain actions in the case of an “NGO that infringes on the rights of citizens” organized against the movement.
The search also took place at the home of Vasily Neustroev , an activist in the observer community and a member of TEC No. 61 of St. Petersburg, who has nothing to do with Vesna. In Tver, a search was held at the home of Yan Ksenzhepolsky, a former Viasna activist. All activists were taken to the Main Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee in Moscow," Viasna said in a statement.
Last year, the St. Petersburg prosecutor's office filed a lawsuit with the city court to recognize the Vesna movement as extremist. This happened after Vesna became one of the organizers of anti-war actions. Soon, information appeared in the Rosfinmonitoring database about the inclusion of Viasna in the list of organizations associated with extremist activities or terrorism. Three days later, on October 14, 2022, the Russian Ministry of Justice added the movement to the register of unregistered associations – "foreign agents".